Cut and Paste - On Windows, you can Cut (or highlight text, a graphic, etc., then use Control+C to copy the text to the Windows Clipboard) and Paste (by moving to a new application or document, and selecting Control+V) between any software applications to quickly transfer information easily. If you have an existing web page you want to use the text from in a flyer you'll be printing, for example, you can open the page in the web browser, highlight the text, select Control+C, then open whatever word processor or desktop publishing program, and select Control+V to paste the text into a document you're creating. The Mac equivalents are Command+C for copy, and Command+V for paste.

Domain Name - a unique web address (ie: http://www.yourname.here) that is registered with the registry responsible for domain names, InterNic. There is an annual fee for maintaining a domain name.

Download - to copy a file from another computer to your computer over the Internet.

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions. If you're looking to the answers to some basic questions, you might start by searching for a FAQ (rhymes with flack) on the topic. For instance, there's a huge archive from newsgroups called the Usenet FAQ archive, where you'll find the answers to the most frequently asked questions on everything from ataris to zoology.

Firewall - Some businesses use a firewall, or security measure to protect their computer systems. A firewall can be a program or a computer, and it generally prevents unauthorized usage of the system. You may run into problems uploading or downloading from the Internet if you're using a connection through your workplace, for example, that runs through a firewall. You can generally contact the system administrator to find out more about how it works.

FTP - File Transfer Protocol, or the process of how files are transferred from one computer to another over the Internet. Usually, FTP is used to either upload (or copy) files from your computer to your web space. FTP is also used to download (or copy) files from the web to your computer.

FTP Utility - A software application you use to transfer (copy) files between computers over the Internet. This is useful for uploading your web pages, or downloading batches of files (from work, or a friend's web space, for example) quickly and efficiently. For Windows, we recommend WS-FTP. For Mac users, we suggest Fetch.

GIF - a graphics file format. This file format limits the image to 256 colors or less, and it is compressed, creating a smaller file format than, say a BMP (Windows Bitmap) or TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) file.

Hexcode - a hexidecimal value used to indicate a color (for fonts, web page backgrounds, etc) to the web browser. You can see a large chart of various colors along with their hexcodes.

HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language. This is the standard markup language for creating web pages so that the pages will be recognized and displayed by a Web Browser.

Home Page - A home page is the main web page for a particular web site. Home page is also sometimes used to mean web page.

HTML Editor - Software used to create web pages. The quality and features of these editors vary wildly. We suggest Allaire's Home Site for Windows users, and BBEdit for Mac Users. HTML Editors can speed up the creation of web pages if you understand some basic HTML (see our Beginning Tutorials). HTML can also be created using a simple text editor.

Freeware - (see also Shareware)Freeware is software that you don't need to pay for in order to use. However, the author of a freeware package doesn't necessarily give up copyright to the software created.

index.htm or index.html - The default page name for most web sites. Most servers are set up so that a page named index.htm or index.html is the default page. In other words, when you type in http://www.webdiner.com, what you will actually see is a page named index.html, so the default page is http://www.webdiner.com/index.html. This can also work for lower level directories (making for shorter, easier to remember URLs). For example, the page http://www.webdiner.com/webadv/ brings up the web page http://www.webdiner.com/webadv/index.htm

ISP - Internet Service Provider. Your ISP is the company you use to use the Internet. ISPs offer different services, for instance, email, space to post web pages, a connection to browse the web, etc. Common ISPs include America Online, Netcom, AT&T, etc.

MIDI - A common audio file format on the web. MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. MIDI is a standard that allows computers and music devices, such as keyboards, to communicate with one another.

Paths - Since graphics are not embedded in web pages, the location of the graphic is indicated to the web browser with a path in HTML. You can find out more in our paths tutorial.

Search Engines - It's a big web out there, and search engines can help you find what you're looking for. Search engines use various methods to catalog and index web sites. Check out our links and tutorials.

JPG or JPEG - a compressed graphics file format, suited for web use. JPGs work best with photographs or images with large areas of smooth color.

Shareware - Software that is generally offered as a free trial. If you decide to keep and use the software, the author of the software generally requires a fee. You'll usually find the shareware registration agreement included in a readme.txt file included with the software. For a huge collection of shareware, see either Shareware.com or Tucows. Paying the registration fees for shareware is encouraged so that shareware authors can continue to develop innovative, useful software.

Text Editor - a text editor is a simple word processor, that we advise using to begin to learn HTML. On Windows, the simplest text editor is Notepad. On the Mac, it is either SimpleText or TeachText. All of these are included with their various operating systems.

Upload - To copy a file from your computer to another computer using the Internet

URL - Uniform Resource Locator. The URL is your web page's unique web address. You type the URL in the web browser to tell the browser to find a specific page on the web. For example, the URL of this particular page is http://www.webdiner.com/webadv/intro/glossary.htm. You could send this (or any) URL to anyone in the world with a web browser and web access, and they would be able to see this page. Parts of URLs are case-sensitive, so typing the above URL in all uppercase (caps) would yield a 404, or file not found message.

Web Browser - The software used to view web pages. Common web browsers are Netscape's Navigator, Netscape's Communicator, and Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Web Page - A single page of HTML. Unlike a regular page in a word processing document, a web page does not have graphics embedded: rather, they are linked. Also, a web page doesn't have a set end to the page. A web page can contain many pages of text and graphics. A web page is simply a single HTML file.

Web Server - A computer connected to the Internet. Generally, you will upload your pages to a web server to create your web site (some folks become brave and run their own web servers, but that's a whole 'nother thing). Once you've uploaded your pages to the web server, your page is officially on the web.

Web Site - A collection of web pages on a related topic. A web site can be made up of a single or many web pages.